I was walking by the IFC theater on Sixth Ave and saw “Peep World” was playing and that it stars Michael C. Hall. I hadn’t heard of it but it sparked my interest and I got inside just as the matinee previews ended.
I don’t love when IFC shows movies in its black box type theater…the space that seats about 25 people, if that. It’s like watching a big screen tv in a living room filled with strangers.
But “Peep World” more than made up for the cramped quarters. The first genuinely funny, character driven film I’ve seen in months. It’s a dark comedy about the neurotic and dysfunctional adult children of a real estate tycoon. Hard feelings boil to the surface after the youngest child writes a tell-all that includes his married brother’s (played by Michael C. Hall) escapades at an adult entertainment shop.
My favorite moment wasn’t on screen, though. Ten minutes in, the woman two seats down wearing a colorful, furry hat turned to me and asked in a heavy Russian accent, “are you here to see ‘My Perestroika?”
“No, this is ‘Peep World.”
“Oh my Gahd, this ees not eet!”
I wonder what finally tipped her off that she wasn’t at the documentary on Russians who grew up during the Cold War, which was showing in another screening room? All the scenes with Americans driving around with California license plates was probably her first clue…
I helped her as she urgently made her way out the dark theater to actually get to see what she came for.